Growing puppies must have the right amount of food each day. While packaging labels provide general guidelines, this may not be specific enough to truly meet the needs of your puppy.

Not only does a puppy need an appropriate amount of food each day, he also needs exercise. If you are increasing your puppy’s food intake, be sure to increase their amount of exercise as well so they don’t develop weight problems.

If your puppy is eating too little, start increasing his food intake slowly over a period of two weeks. If at that time he reaches an ideal weight, you can keep the food amount there. Do the opposite for an overfed dog.

Want to help your puppy have a healthy immune system? Keep him at a healthy weight. Dogs and puppies that are either overweight or underweight will be more likely to catch something from other dogs because their immune system is lower.

You can avoid a fever getting out of hand by checking your puppy’s temperature regularly. Two or three times a week should do it. A dog’s temperature should be between 99.5 and 102.5 degrees.

Your vet can show you how to take a dog’s temperature. The thermometer will need to be inserted into the rectum, so be sure to have plenty of mineral oil or petroleum jelly on hand.

Three minutes will do it – any more and your puppy may get uncomfortable! Hopefully your puppy is not running a fever, but if he is, he should be seen by the vet right away.

Make absolutely certain that you purchase a rectal thermometer for this purpose! An oral thermometer is likely to give you a false reading and make you think your puppy is sick when he is not. Now have fun getting your puppy off to a healthy start!

See additional educational articles penned by this author covering things including unfinished hardwood floors and discount hardwood floor.

Related Articles:

1. Adopt A Puppy It's not an easy thing to adopt a puppy, not in the way of being unable to come by a cute and adorable puppy that will fit into your lifestyle, but because to adopt a puppy means that you will necessarily need to adjust your life to fit the puppy....
2. A Healthy Puppy Needs Healthy Teeth While most puppies are born with no teeth, you can be assured that your puppy will have a full set of sharp primary teeth by the age of around 12 weeks....
3. American Eskimo Puppy To each, his or her, own dog. That statement might not make any sense to a person without a dog, but it is nonetheless true that all dog owners believe that their dog is the cutest, most adorable and the friendliest dog, etc. The list is endless but let me...
4. How To Train A Golden Retriever If you are looking for ideas on how to start training you Golden Retriever, you'll appreciate these tips. Training your dog can be fun, and is very important so that you can have a well behaved best friend....
5. Buying A New Puppy? You Must Always Ensure That You Have Everything Required Buying a new puppy dog is often as exciting as bringing home a new baby. And for many who treat pups as members of the family, the actual emotion could not be much better. Therefore exactly like preparing for the baby's arrival, you'll want to have things all set for...